Is Yelp A Social Network?

Posted by jonmikelbailey under Social Media
From https://www.woodst.com 3112 days ago
Made Hot by: LimeWood on May 20, 2016 10:27 pm

‘Social Network’ certainly isn’t the term that most people think of when they hear the word Yelp. From my 3+ years experience working for the website, the word “restaurant” probably comes to the forefront of most minds when you hear the name.

Even upon searching online for some of the most “popular” or “well known” social networks, Yelp seems to be consistently left off the list entirely. But I argue that Yelp is a social network, and could easily be included in those lists as it fits the definition of what an online social network is today and has the traffic to compete.

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Comments

Written by MikeBYelp
3106 days ago

Hey there Lyceum!

Mike Bishop, Community Director from Yelp here! I can't speak too much about Foursquare as I don't use the service, but it seems that users on Foursquare are more focused on checking in and earning digital badges than seeking out information from great local businesses.

That being said, Yelp does offer a whole suite of free tools so that business owners can really "own" their Yelp reputation.

Absolutely free, ( like no credit card number required free), you can go to biz.yelp.com and claim your businesses page. Once you do that, you can then do a host of things:

1. Publicly and privately respond to reviews

2. See day to day statistics of how many Yelpers are visiting your page, generating directions to your business from the Yelp app, calling from the Yelp app etc.

3. You can put an about the business section, and make recommendations of other businesses

4. You can set up a check-in offer ( an incentive to digitally check-in)

5. You can adjust your hours/ biz information/ and the specialties of your biz ( which increases SEO)

You can do so many things on the backend to leverage the power of Yelp and to connect with the consumers who are taking the time to spread the good word online.

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